Read an interesting article in the Birmingham News today from Kevin Scarbinsky. Scarbinsky is covering the Alabama game this weekend and he was talking about the respect each team has shown each other compared to the Alabama/Auburn rivalry.

Here is an insert from his article: (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/09/iron_bowl_could_take_a_lesson.html)

If Alabama-Auburn is the Bryant-Denny P.A. system playing "Son of a Preacher Man" to mock Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, Alabama-Penn State is Nick Saban asking Tide fans not to boo the venerable Paterno before his visit last season.

Penn State assistant Jay Paterno, son of the head coach, returned the favor in his newspaper column Thursday, asking Nittany Lion fans to treat their visitors this weekend with class.

Maybe it's easier to be nice to the friend you see every so often than the neighbor you see every day. The friend is nothing more than an occasional opponent. The neighbor is an actual threat.

I always thought our rivalry with Auburn had it healthy dose of hate and I think it still does for most people. Of course there will always be people on both sides who take the rivalry too seriously, but if our game with Auburn was more like our game with Penn State, what kind of fun would that be?

I mean, isn’t the dislike for the other team what makes a good rivalry? We respect Penn State and they respect us, doesn’t mean we have to cheer for them or they cheer for us on Saturday either.

What do you guys think?

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